Tadashi Shoji’s Nail Art Challenge

Things in the nail art world are heating up & even fashion designer Tadashi Shoji is “having a major nail art moment” & has developed a fab new idea to inspire nail artists everywhere.

The Challenge

Tadashi Shoji reached out to 8 amazing nail art bloggers back in August to ask if they would be interested in participating in a Nail Art Challenge. The Challenge was to design a set of nails inspired by Tadashi Shoji’s lovely Spring/ Summer 2013 collection (video below). These nails have been put to the public vote with the winning design used as inspiration for a limited-edition clutch.

Tadashi Shoji SS 2013 collection, A Modern Silk Road.

Inspiration was also sent to each blogger in the form of fabric swatches. This gave the talented ladies a tactile sense of the colours & textures of each fabric.“We wanted to give the bloggers freedom to interpret the collection in any way they liked, and we were so overwhelmed by their beautiful submissions.” says Jenny from Tadashi Shoji.

The Nail Art Challenge Entries:

The Nailasaurus

“I knew as soon as I laid eyes on this dress that it would be the inspiration for my nail art. Tadashi Shoji’s dresses exude understated elegance, which was my starting point for this mani. I wanted something intricate that was still strikingly simple at the same time. I used a stamping technique over a white base colour to mimic the ornamental lace detailing of the dress and then used a small nail art brush to draw on the half-moons.” Sammy, The Nailasaurus.

Chalkboard Nails

“For my design, I combined two of the Spring/Summer 2013 dresses. I began by sponging on a gradient in the colors of one of the dresses. Then, I freehand painted the lace pattern from the second dress in a nude color over the top.” Sarah, Chalkboard Nails.

Nailed It

“The patterns used for my runway-ready manicure were inspired by the small prints found on many of the pieces from the 2013 line. The stripes were done as a tribute to the detail work on many of the dresses, revealing the nude fabrics (or in some cases, skin) beneath. All the colors were matched up with the color swatches provided to me in the sample parcel I was sent, so it’s really no mistake that the colors work so perfectly together.” Katy, Nailed It.

The Daily Nail

“My design was inspired by the vibrant, beautiful colors of the patterned fabric. To loosely interpret the pattern, I used a nail art brush to make brushstrokes of color on a white background then added a color block at the base of the nail, which was pulled from the colors of the dress I chose as my inspiration.” Melissa, The Daily Nail.

The Illustrated Nail

“I really loved the intricate floral patterns used within the collection and so decided to take parts of the pattern and transfer onto the nail. I especially loved the leaf in the pattern and so played around with this in the nail space quite a bit. As with most of my nail art, I used nail art pens filled with the colours of the collection to create the designs, I found it hard to stick to just one design as there are so many aspects of the Tadashi Shoji collection that could be transferred into nail art.” Sophie, The Illustrated Nail.

The Daily Polish

“I knew I wanted to do some kind of embroidered floral design because it was so prominent throughout the fashion show. I also chose my color scheme from the fabric samples and did an ombre design from the darkest blue to the nude color. I loved the bright colors of the red and green, so I added a few accents onto the vine design. I wanted to keep it sort of simple and elegant with the idea of translating it to a clutch.” Kaitlin, The Daily Polish.

Polish You Pretty

“We fell head over heels in love with lace in the SS2013 Tadashi Shoji collection. We wanted to incorporate the delicate fabric with our favourite shade of the collection – Paprika. Paprika is a great transition shade to move from Spring/Summer into the colder months!” Danielle & Jenny, Polish You Pretty.

Hey, Nice Nails!

“This design was inspired by Eastern blue floral prints and tiles. The dress that inspired this design is a blue Tadashi Shoji dress with a white bodice and blue lace detailing. We used Essie Mesmerize and Essie Borrowed and Blue to hand paint the intricate blue lace on the nails.” Donne & Ginny, Hey, Nice Nails!

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